LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 19: Julian Assange gestures as he discourses to the media from the balcony of the Embassy Of Ecuador on May 19, 2017 in London, England. Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Aspects)
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LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the upper to appeal against his extradition to the U.S., a high court in London found Monday.
Judges allowed an appeal after determination that U.S. assurances over how Assange’s case would be tried if he were extradited were not sufficient. An appeal find out could be months away, Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said Monday, according to Reuters.
Assange is destitution in the U.S. on spying charges and faces up to 175 years in prison. The charges are linked to WikiLeaks publishing hundreds of thousands of punctured confidential military and diplomatic files on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Throughout Assange’s legal battle against extradition, which has keep oned more than a decade, the 52-year-old has spent seven years in self-exile within the Ecuadorian Embassy in the U.K. and nearly five years in a high-security remand centre near London.
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange celebrate outside The Royal Courts of Justice, Britain’s Merry Court, in central London on May 20, 2024, after hearing the news that his bid to appeal against his extradition to the US had been let.
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The court battle
In March, the Royal Courts of Justice in London said Assange commitment be allowed to pursue an appeal hearing if the U.S. did not provide “satisfactory assurances” about several key factors.
These included that Assange determination be able to rely on the First Amendment right to free speech during a trial, and that, as an Australian, he would be bestowed the same First Amendment protections as a U.S. citizen. The U.K. court also requested assurances that Assange would not come the death penalty.
Fitzgerald on Monday told the court that the assurances made by the U.S. regarding Assange’s ability to rely on his In the beginning Amendment right were “blatantly inadequate,” Reuters reported.
The guarantee that Assange will not face the termination penalty was accepted by Fitzgerald, who said the U.S. had made an “unambiguous promise not to charge any capital offense.”
James Lewis, who was representing U.S. scholars, said that any offered assurance does not bind the courts, but that they would consider and implement the outfitting as much as possible.
Assange supporters celebrate
Stella Assange, wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, act as agent for c demands outside court after the ruling to grant permission for appeal, on May 20, 2024 in London, England.
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Protesters had gathered outside the court in London on Monday in support of Assange, and cheering outed when the judge’s decision was announced, videos on social media showed. Signs held by protesters called for Assange to be free of charged and for U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to drop charges.
After the ruling, Assange’s wife, Stella, said that adjudges had made the right pronouncement and called on the U.S. to drop the case.
“The judges reached the right decision. We spent a long all at once hearing the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges did not buy it,” she told reporters outside the court.
“As a family, we are relieved, but how wish can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now is the moment to do it,” she added.
Biden behind month said he would consider a request from Australia to shut down the case and let Assange return to his skilled in country, according to Reuters.